GotaFish

No the snake was still alive and I was able to free it and let it go.

Found this guy in the house stuck do this glue board. Is he a prairie king snake?

We floated yesterday from Bennett Springs Access to Prosperine. This is the first time in my 50 years of floating the river that I floated this stretch. I have only fished from Prosperine to Tunnel Dam, usually took out at Bird Island. Last year floated two times from Lead Mine to Berry Bluff. My Dad and I left my place in Truxton at 3:00 AM and met my friend Mike at Eldridge at 5:45 AM. We dropped Mike’s truck at Prosperine and headed to Bennett Springs. We had hoped to be on the water early, but did not know about Hwy 64 being shut down west of Lebanon. After detouring on Hwy 32 and through the park we finally launched at 8:30 AM. Due to the recent rains the river was still high. Due to the stained color and falling river we knew the fishing was going to be tough. I caught a 12 inch largemouth on about my tenth cast and we were hopeful fishing was going to be better than we thought. Unfortunately, that was the only fish we caught for the next four hours. We ended up catching only 12 fish total, 8 trout (three browns and 5 rainbows), two largemouth and two small mouth. Biggest trout was a 15 inch rainbow and two largemouth were barely 12 inches, the two smallmouth were even smaller. Due to the fast water we were restricted to using mostly crankbaits and completed the float in about 8 hours. Despite the lack of fish, it was great to be on the river with my friend of 55 years. I am also thankful to my Dad for shuttling my truck and trailer and waiting for us all day at Prosperine. We are looking forward to doing it again soon.

I am considering purchasing a Pond Prowler as a Father's Day gift to myself to use on my 3 acre pond. Please let me know when you decide to sell your Pond Prowler and hopefully we can make a deal.

I went hunting yesterday, just so I could say I sat in my tree stand when it was 5 degrees with windchills below zero and I am sure glad I went. I had deer all around me for most of the afternoon, many of them less than ten yards. Mostly does and yearlings, with on little six point buck. I had on five layers of under armor, my HECS suit and my Scentlok camo. My feet started to get chilly before the deer arrived, but once they were there I forgot all about the weather. I could have killed several of them, but really don't need any more meat this year. I was waiting for the huge 8 pointer I have seen many times this year, just not within bow range. I am really writing today to talk about my HECS suit. I have been a Scentlok hunter for years, wearing the camo, washing my clothes and showering with camo type soap, I spray my boots everyday before the hunt and never wear my hunting boots in my truck. Last year my friend encouraged me to purchase a HECS suit and I went all in with pants, shirt, gloves and face mask. I had what I thought were good results with the HECS suit last year, but this year I am totally convinced. With the HECS Suit and ScentLok I am just invisible to the deer. Yesterday, I was hunting from an old broken ladder stand that only has two sections, only about 10 feet off the ground and just hanging on the side of a tree with no real cover. When the first doe came in, I stood up and she saw me move. She was about 20 yards away and gave me the stare down. Then she put her nose up in the air and sniffed several times. She then walked to within 10 yards and kept staring right at me. After what seemed like an hour, she put her head down and started eating and paid no more attention to me. Then the rest of the deer came in and milled around me for over an hour. Man it is hard to have deer that close for so long, no coughing, sneezing or real movement allowed. This is just one example of the HECS suit. Earlier in the year during rifle season I walked up on three does on the edge of a field and they spooked running about 100 yds out. I got down on one knee to watch them hoping for a buck to join them. The largest one eventually turned around and came back to within 20 yards to see what I was and then went back to eating. I live on 136 acres and probably hunted 50 times this year, not once did I spoke a deer while on stand. One of my favorite stands is on a tree line that separates two huge fields that were planted with beans and corn this year. I have hunted here for over five years and it is a great stand as long as the deer are below you. If the deer come from up the hill behind me I am silhouetted against the sky and they almost always bust me. This has not happened with my HECS suit. This year I had a small 4 pointer come down the hill behind me. He saw me and froze. Then just like the doe he stared me down for a while, then came even closer. He was on the hill basically at the same height as me less than 10 yards away. He finally lost interest in me and went back to eating. So I am sold on my HECS suit. My only issue is you need to baby the HECS suit, need to wear it under your camo or it will easily tear on thorns, etc. Even though I sound like it, I am not a HECS suit spokesman, yet

That is a good one and very interesting about the acorn crop creating those bumps on the antlers. I knew the color of the antlers varied based on the type of trees the buck is rubbing on, but did not know about the forage causing bumps on the antlers.

I actually rattled a little 7 pointer away from a group last year. It ran on a line for about 150 yds straight to me. This year I was not able to lure any of them my way by rattling or grunting.

Just thought I would add a post since the last Archery update was from December 5, 2022. I hunt a 136 acre property near Truxton which is about 10 miles west of Warrenton. Where I hunt is basically a wooded lot surrounded by farm fields. My favorite stand is at the corner of the neighbor's field which is currently picked beans. This time of year I usually see 25+ deer per day, the only problem is they are 300 yds out in the field. I am good, but not good enough to shoot a deer with my bow at 300 yds. Yesterday afternoon, was a great day to sit in the woods. I saw 37 deer in the field, 25 of them at one time. I saw 12 different bucks, two small eight pointer size bucks were chasing does around the field. I saw one monster buck and then about 10 minutes later I saw one twice as big. It is hard to tell at 300 yds, but through more Vortex binoculars he looked to be a huge 12 point with big tall tines. I need to get permission to hunt the other side of the field, and I know when I do all of the deer will be on the side of the field I am currently hunting. It is always fun to see so many deer and on more than a few occasions, I have actually watched them walk all the way across the field to meet one of my arrows.

To get back on the topic at hand - no pun intended - I recently read that Tunnel Dam power generation is being decommissioned and power will no longer be generated. Unfortunately, there are no plans to remove the dam. However, having a consistent water level in Tunnel Lake will hopefully make for better fishing.

A few weeks back finally made it to the Niangua. Put in at the upper Lead Mine ramp with my good friend Chris and my Dad made the 90 minute drive to ferry our truck and trailer back to the Berry Bluff ramp. Dad was a trooper sitting at the ramp all day waiting for us. It was awesome to finally be back on the Niangua after about seven years. It was a relaxing float except for the huge sycamore that completely blocked the river between the Lead Mine boat ramp and the lower Lead Mine access. We had to completely unload my 20'6" Shawnee and the two of us had to lift if over the tree. If the boat weighed about 2 more pounds we would have never gotten it over. The rest of the float was uneventful and just relaxing. We caught about 30 fish total most of them smallmouth. The biggest being 19 inches. Did catch two small largemouth and no spotted bass. Looking forward to floating from Berry Bluff to Tunnel Dam sometime next spring. Thank you to everyone for sharing directions to help us find our way back to the river.

You were not the only one who saw this last night. I saw it at 8:42 PM near my home in Truxton, MO. I was driving on Highway A and pulled over to watch in amazement as it flew over. I Googled and determined they were a string of Starlink satellites.

Hello everyone, heading down to Bull Shoals this week to troll for Walleye. Does anyone have an idea where the Thermocline is right now? Is it around 30 feet?

Wrench, Thanks for the directions

Need help with directions from the Lake Niangua access to Lead Mine access. From Tunnel Lake take Tunnel Dam Road, to Highway D to Highway 54. So then where do you turn from Highway 54 to head toward Lead Mine?

One of my favorite banks on the whole river is just below where I think Berry Bluff is. It does not look like much, but almost always produced several bass and usually a 4lb +. I need to drive down there soon and check out the area.

Wrench, Thanks for the information about the Berry Bluff boat ramp. It is too bad about Bird Island, the Flanary's were good people. Do you know if Berry Bluff is known by a different name? I ask because I can't find any information on the Missouri Dept of Conservation site or other information on how to get there.

I have not been able to float the Niangua in several years and really want to get down there this summer. We used to float from Prosperine to Bird Island and either spend the night on the sandbar or take out at Moonlight drive and float the rest of the way on the second day. Based on what I recall I am thinking that Berry Bluff is probably only 1 -2 miles above Bird Island. Does Berry Bluff have a boat ramp similar to Leadmine? I have a 20'6" Shawnee and need to be able to back the trailer into the river. Any information about Berry Bluff or Bird Island would be greatly appreciated.

Do any of you know Brian Flanary down at Bird Island. I used to float with Brian, camp at his place and enjoyed visiting with him and his family. I have not been able to reach Brian in the last couple of years. Phone is disconnected, mail returned and when I visited his place it seemed deserted.

They are definitely here. I ran into this guy down by the river the other day, the Yampa River in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Walked within 5 feet of another bull that I did not see until we were face to face. I slowly backed away. Being 5 feet from a moose got my attention, but that flying squirrel that was with him really freaked me out.

I know absolutley nothing about pool or pool cues, but for $950 I assume these come with spot lock, forwarding looking sonar, will automatically shot the cue ball for me and are completly going to ruin the game of pool for everyone who does not have such technologically advanced equiment

I am trying to get my friend interested in your rig. Is it still for sale?

Dutch, This sent you a PM about fishing this weekend.

Dutch, Are you looking to fish at Pomme or anywhere?

My buddy and I fished Pomme for a few hours yesterday morning. It was my first trip to Pomme in over 45 years. My dad and I always fished further up the lake and usually all the way up into the river. Yesterday, we put in near the dam and got on the water around 9:00 AM and off around 12:30 PM. Saying that the wind was howling would be an understatement, we were constantly getting sprayed. We only managed to catch two small bass and one white bass. I love windy days like this, and I am know we could have caught more fish if we just knew the right flat our pocket to go to on a windy day like this.

Dutch, I am planning to go to Pomme this weekend. Have you been back lately and had any luck?